Menominee tribe, Hard Rock team up with colleges for job training program

keshena - The Menominee Reservation and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Kenosha have decided to plan for the creation of a new Jobs Training Institute that will prepare workers to fill the new positions at a proposed casino. The training institute is based on a collaboration between the Menominee Kenosha Gaming Authority, Hard Rock Wisconsin LLC, the College of Menominee Nation and Gateway Technical College in Kenosha.

The $800 million facility at the former Dairyland Greyhound Track will create about 3,000 jobs directly related to the operation of the casino while the project overall is expected to create 7,000 additional jobs related to businesses providing services and goods to the Kenosha facility and the Menominee Tribe. The College of the Menominee Nation, Keshena, and Gateway Technical College, Kenosha, will work with Hard Rock and the gaming authority to implement new training programs to:

• Help recruit and train a diverse labor force necessary to supply the newly created jobs.

• Develop an inventory of positions and related qualifications/skill levels for these positions.

• Ensure hiring and contracting goals of the authority are met in regard to residency status, minority status and Indian (Native American) preference.

• Market the training and recruitment specifically to the unemployed and underemployed in the region.

“The Menominee Tribe embraces this new collaborative agreement which will help ensure that people filling the new jobs created by the Kenosha project will be correctly matched with appropriate positions and will get the training they need to succeed,” said Gary Besaw, Chairman of the Menominee-Kenosha Gaming Authority. “Like any smart business, we must plan ahead for the human resources needed to run an enterprise this huge. That takes a lot of planning and preparation so we are not caught flat-footed. Creation of this new training institute will allow people in the entire region to take maximum advantage of the employment and economic growth that will result from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.”

“The College of Menominee Nation's academic degree programs and technical-trades offerings are uniquely suited to prepare workers for the Menominee Tribe's Kenosha casino initiative,” said S. Verna Fowler, Ph.D., President, College of Menominee Nation. “We are committed to preparing workers who have strong general education credentials, as well as entry-level job skills, so they are positioned to move up in their chosen career fields.”

"Gateway Technical College is proud to be partnering with Hard Rock and the Menominee tribe to provide education and training opportunities for the family-supporting jobs needed for the Kenosha casino,” said Dr. Bryan Albrecht, President, Gateway Technical College. “Jobs in data management, business, accounting, information technology, hospitality, tourism, transportation, logistics and protective services are all critical to the economic growth of our region.”